Power Rangers: Last Engage 3: Rotation: September's Sands
by rylansato
Summary: Tessie is sent to 2004 and winds up in Beslan, located in North Ossetia-Alania of the Russian Federation. She ends up in the care of a school teacher, who is willing to help her. Things seem to be okay for the most part until a terrorist group storm the school and take hostages on the first day of school. Tessie doesn't realize she is in the middle of the Beslan School Siege.
1. Chapter 1

POWER RANGERS: LAST ENGAGE: ROTATION: SEPTEMBER'S SANDS

1

Tessie stood with Elena Kosumova and her nine-year-old son in front of the school, where Elena was the vice principal. Tessie had nowhere else to go and Elena wanted to house her until they figured out how to handle her situation. Tessie didn't reveal anything to her regarding her ranger powers. The only thing she told her was that she was abducted, which wasn't necessarily a lie. The nature of the abduction was the only thing she kept secret.

Today was the first day of school, which was a big day for people here. Tessie was told there was a big ceremony on the first day of school. Elena oversaw the ceremonies.

"The students prepare for the Day of Knowledge ceremony quite thoroughly," Elena said. "The first graders are entering school for the first time and they will remember it forever."

"We really don't get anything like this in the States," Tessie said. "The first day of school for us in any grade is like any other day."

"That's too bad," Elena said. "The first day should be a day of celebration."

"I know a few people would disagree as they think they lose the freedom they had during the summer vacation," Tessie said with a chuckle. Elena also laughed. While Tessie didn't really enjoy school, she could appreciate days such as this. She could see prideful looks on parents' faces as their kids were now entering their school careers. She saw two little girls walking out of the school and up to their parents with a poster and balloons. It was written in Russian so Tessie couldn't read what it said.

Elena noticed Tessie trying to read the poster.

"It reads 'first time to first grade'," she said.

"I really don't remember being this excited about entering school," Tessie said. Tessie realized that these kids were about the same age as her, in her time. She wondered if any of them would come to the States and if she had encountered them. The likelihood of that was very slim but it was an interesting thought to entertain.

Tessie watched more kids pour out of the school. It was just about time for the ceremonies to begin. Everyone had smiles on their faces and looked to be enjoying themselves. She saw everyone start taking their positions. Parents started gathering to one side, older students lined up near the front gate and the younger students were gathering in front of the school. Tessie acknowledged their preparation for the event. She oddly felt relaxed considering her situation. She wasn't sure why she ended up here but things weren't so bad. Granted, she had been abducted by Bandora and thrown into the past and into another country that she knew nothing about.

Suddenly, a truck pulled up and heavily armed men and women jumped out of it. Several shots rang out causing everyone to flinch. A security guard and police officer ran up to the armed group but were gunned down immediately. Tessie was about to pull her morpher out but realized she may put more people in danger by morphing. People were being herded into the building. Just before Tessie was pushed into the building, she saw a second truck pull up and more armed men and women rushed into the courtyard of the school. More gunfire erupted, people screamed in terror.

The people were pushed into the gym. They were rough with them. Tessie had to control her anger for the sake of everyone else. She hated being pushed around like this but if she lost herself then other people may pay for it. Everyone was ordered to surrender their cell phones and sit down. Tessie didn't have a cell phone and luckily her morpher was on her belt which looked like a belt buckle. The gym was packed to the point that people were practically sitting on each other. The heat was another factor. It was almost a hundred degrees outside. People shoved tightly into a hot room with scorching temperatures outside was turning the gym into an oven.

She looked around to see parents and students alike were now held prisoner. She noticed that most of the students were younger. The older students were by the gate and must've been able to get away. She saw Elena and her crying son on the other side of the gym. She was surprised she could spot her in a crowd of about a thousand people. They locked eyes and Tessie was trying to convey to Elena through her eyes that everything will be fine. She wasn't sure if she got that message or not.

"You all are now hostages," one of the terrorists said. Tessie surveyed the situation, she counted sixteen terrorists including two women. They took positions in random areas of the gym. One of the female terrorist stood in the corridor outside the gym. Tessie could have sworn they locked eyes at one point. She felt the woman's eyes were icy as if she wasn't human and during their moment of staring, Tessie felt as though the woman could see into her soul. That's how menacing these eyes appeared.

"We came here to die," another terrorist said. "No one will leave here alive. You will die with us."

Tessie knew nothing of this event as history wasn't one of her strong points. This was Ryan's area of expertise. Due to her ignorance of this event, she had no idea how it would end so the terrorist may be correct and everyone in this room will die.


	2. Chapter 2

Tessie watched the terrorists closely. Some of the terrorists were attaching an explosive to the basketball hoop. She focused on the explosive. While history may have been Ryan's expertise, military weapons were her expertise. While she hated her father, the moments she did enjoy were moments when he was sharing his obsession of military weapons.

She knew that bomb was an IED. She could put a few rounds into it with her blade blaster and it wouldn't blow up. She knew they were rigging it to go off when they wanted it. She watched them hook it up to a platform where another terrorist was standing. It was a dead man's switch. If she morphed then she could cut those wires before they could react. However, that didn't mean the other terrorists wouldn't react as she was focused on taking care of the bomb.

To her advantage, there were so many people that she was able to slowly make her way to Elena without being noticed. The woman was relieved that Tessie was able to get to her. She was already scared enough having everyone involved but now having an American as a hostage made this an international incident.

"How are you holding up?" Tessie asked.

Elena exhaled loudly and shook her head. "I don't know to be honest."

"I know this is little comfort but it will be fine," Tessie said. "I'll do what I can to help."

"What can you do?" Elena asked.

"Right now, I have to assess the situation and figure out the best way that will not get everyone killed." Tessie was trying to sound tactical and bring some sort of piece of mind to her.

"What makes you say such things?" Elena asked. Tessie pulled out her morpher.

"Because I'm a power ranger."

"You're a ranger? Then why not end this right now?" Elena asked. "I know power rangers are strong and can take out groups like this with no problem."

"There are two problems," Tessie said. "First, I don't want to get people killed, if I can help it. Second, I'm from the future. This event happened and I can't change history. If I do then my time might be more fucked up when I return."

"Which is when, exactly?"

"2017," Tessie said. "I was ambushed and ended up here. I think my entire team ended up in similar places."

"Why do you say that?"

"I received a message from a teammate while they were getting ambushed. It cut out midway through. A short time later I was ambushed. So I can only guess they were sent back in time as well. But right now, I have to think of how to handle this situation."

"And while you do that, we are all suffering. The temperature in here will rise, turning this place into an oven. We don't have water and were packed tightly in here."

"We will get through this," Tessie said a bit frustrated. She understood Elena's pleas but she was bound by trying to protect her own time.

One of the terrorists stood in the middle of the gym. He held his gun firmly to show he was ready to kill anyone who opposed him. He looked directly at Elena and Tessie.

"YOU WILL SPEAK ONLY IN RUSSIAN AND ONLY WHEN SPOKEN TO!" he said. Elena whispered the orders to Tessie. The terrorist saw the exchange and began moving toward them. A man stood up and the terrorist's attention snapped in his direction. The man held his hands out and slowly moved them up and down, motioning people to calm down. He repeated the orders that were just given but in the local Ossetic language.

"Are you done?" the terrorist asked. The man nodded only a moment before the terrorist executed him. Another man stood up in protest and the terrorist's attention and weapon went to that man. "Kneel!" he ordered. The other man shook his head. "Kneel!" He got the same response. Another shot rang out but this wasn't a swift death. The man fell to the ground, bleeding out.

More terrorists entered the room and started pointing their weapons at men. They were purposely singling out the men. Tessie thought they were going to execute the men in the room at that moment. She realized that it wasn't all the men. They all appeared to be the stronger looking out of the men in the room. They were ordered to stand and leave the gym.

Elena noticed Tessie's grip on her morpher had tightened and was slightly shaking. Normally, she would have done something to calm her but she wanted Tessie to get angry and do something about this situation.

Suddenly, a loud explosion erupted in the building. The shock wave shook the building and caused everyone in the gym to cry out. Tessie noticed the terrorists still in the gym reacted with surprise. Some of them left the room to go investigate.

"Something happened that the terrorists didn't expect," Tessie said.

"Do you think the men tried to fight them once outside the gym?" Elena asked.

"It's possible," Tessie replied. "Either they detonated the bomb to kill the men or it went off by mistake. That's the problem with IEDs. Those things can blow up in your face without warning or reason."

Movement in the doorway caught Tessie's attention. Some of the terrorists lined up on either side of the door while others took point and aimed weapons at the crowd. Another figure entered the room. Judging by the actions of the terrorists, she assumed it was the leader. Tessie's eyes widened as she got a look of the leader. It wasn't human.

The design of this creature was simple as it was a humanoid in body but its head was in the shape of a grenade. It wielded a large mace that it appeared to have no trouble holding.

It looked around at the hostages and smirked at its victory.

"The explosion you just heard was done by me. I killed some of my own soldiers for voicing opposition against taking children as hostages. I will kill anyone that opposes me. But, there are some bodies that need to be tossed out and I'll give you the chance to volunteer for this duty. I can't guarantee you'll survive though. We'll pick people if you don't so it really doesn't matter to me."

Elena whispered the translation to Tessie. She immediately stood up. She knew damn well that monsters like this were not involved in such events. Everyone's attention was on her as she stepped past other hostages to get to the middle where there was more room to stand.

"Don't get the wrong idea," Tessie said. "I'm not volunteering. I will stop you."

"Well, that's not Russian. You're clearly not either," the monster said switching to English. "What could you possibly do to achieve such a thing?"

Tessie didn't bother responding as she pulled out her morpher. "BLUE RANGER POWER!"


	3. Chapter 3

Everyone in the room responded with surprise, including the monster. All weapons were now trained on her.

"I didn't realize a ranger was involved here," the monster said. "Although, you don't look like the Battle Fever rangers."

"I'm not part of that team," Tessie said. "I do need to ask, who was your designer? I've seen better-designed monsters so your creator must be seriously lacking creativity.

"This changes things," the monster said clearly ignoring Tessie's insult. "I'll need to take care of you first before dealing with this situation. He jumped at her with his large mace raised high above its head. He swung down hard only for the motion to be stopped by Tessie's Power Lance. There were several moves Tessie could have done in this situation but there was no room to maneuver. She realized she would have to train more in all kinds of situations. If she ever got home, one of those simulations would be in a room full of hostages like this.

She pushed the mace upward with enough force to cause the creature to stumble backward. She then leapt up and kicked it with both feet. It fell onto its back and rolled back to its feet. It charged again and Tessie roundhouse kicked it with enough force to send it through the wall of the gym.

She pursued the monster through the giant hole in the wall to the outside where many people on the other side of the fence were standing. Everyone looked in shock to see such a creature emerge from the building. Soldiers trained their weapons on it ready to fire but held their fire when Tessie came into view in her ranger form. They weren't sure what exactly was going on.

Tessie didn't let up her attack. She jumped into the air with her Power Lance, bringing it down on the monster. He caught the weapon and punched Tessie in the face. He knocked her weapon away and slashed her with his own weapon causing sparks to fly out from the impact.

"Why are you here?" she asked.

"That's my line," the monster said. "You're not from this time."

"How do you know that?"

"I'm from a group that exists outside the normal perception of time."

"I want to know why you're getting involved with political issues," Tessie said. "This doesn't even become that big of an issue worldwide."

"I'm aware of that," the monster said. "Most people outside of Europe don't learn of this event. Maybe if we made a bigger impact and just kill everyone then everyone will know about it."

"Is that your goal?" Tessie asked. "To make the world learn about this event?"

"No," it said. "I don't really care what happens. I just want to cause strife and turmoil and stirring up some angry Islamic militants is a fun way to do it."

"That's a bit fucked up," Tessie said pulling out her blade blaster. She switched it to its gun mode and fired. The monster blocked a few shots but missed some that struck him in the chest. He stumbled back clutching his charred chest.

"You might want to be…," he started to say but was cut off by Tessie charging him with her Power Lance. He jumped out of the way barely missing the blades on the end. Tessie switched stances and swung again, this time striking the monster in the same spot as where she shot it.

Staggering, the monster started tossing grenades at Tessie. Explosions erupted all around her, sending her flying through a wall in the gym. The concrete wall crushed a few people who were unfortunate enough to be next to it. Tessie heard a few bones break in the people she landed on. She didn't have time to check on them though. One of the soldiers rushed her but she grabbed him and held him in a headlock. Another soldier ran at them but she side kicked him in the fact. She snapped the other's neck. The monster entered the gym through the hole. She charged at it, tackling it back outside.

It threw her into the air with a few grenades attached to her. She pulled them off and threw them back down at the monster just before they exploded. The monster slowly stood up. Tessie stood on top of the gym with her lance ready. The monster looked beat.

"You think you won?" it asked. "You think you can save them? Nope!" It pulled the pin from its head and ran into the gym.

"STOP!" Tessie screamed. She began to move forward to jump off the building but something stopped her. She was pulled backward by a pair of hands. She felt like she was going to fall over but the same hands that grabbed her stabilized her. She looked around to see herself surrounded by an unfamiliar Ranger team. She also noticed she wasn't in Beslan anymore. She was back home. The ranger that grabbed her was a bulky yellow ranger with a ram-like design on his helmet.

"What happened?" Tessie asked. The other rangers powered down and Tessie did likewise.

"We brought you back to your time," the yellow ranger said. "We're the Hyperforce rangers. You and your teammates were thrown into different parts in time. You ended up in what is called the Beslan School Siege."

"Did the school blow up?"

The yellow ranger nodded. "Yes but this time it was worse than what originally happened. All that's left is a crater with no survivors."

"Fuck," she said. "Maybe I shouldn't have provoked the monster."

"No one blames you for that," Yellow said. "You tried to defend innocent people in an impossible situation."

Suddenly, another portal opened up and Ryan, still in his ranger form and bound, emerged while being held by the Time Force Rangers. They threw him to the ground.

"Ryan!" Tessie said rushing over to him. He powered down.

"I should bring you up on charges," Time Pink said.

"For what?" Tessie asked.

"Your teammate altered history and killed another ranger. He then attacked us."

Tessie looked at Ryan with wide eyes. "I was defending myself," he said. "Your guy attacked me first. I was defending myself and my family."

"I told you your family's dead," Pink said. Ryan shot back to his feet but was quickly knocked back down by Time Blue and Green.

"Where did you end up?" Tessie asked.

"Hiroshima. Before the bomb."

"So the city wasn't destroyed?"

"The bomb was dropped some time later than August sixth," he said. "I was trying to stop it when their teammate attacked me."

"Do you know why the bomb was dropped late?" Pink asked. "It's because you betrayed your country and told them where to attack the Indianapolis. They sank it and no survivors. Instead, they used the bomb meant for Nagasaki and had to delay bombing Nagasaki. You really fucked up history."

"I guess one of the requisites of being a Time Force ranger is to be an emotionless bitch," Ryan said. Pink pointed her blaster at him with an incredible urge to pull the trigger. Tessie stood in the way as did some of the Hyperforce rangers.

"Carly, stop!" Yellow said. "These rangers have been through a lot. They were dealing with a situation in the best way they knew how with no way of knowing they'd be brought back home. You think they should've just let people die."

"If it means saving the timeline then yes," Carly said. "So not only is the timeline irreversibly fucked up but I have to tell Misaki that her husband isn't coming home because another ranger killed him."

"The bomb killed him, not me," Ryan said.

"You need to go back, Carly," Yellow said. Your emotions are running too high right now."

"We need to still get the other five rangers," she said.

"We'll have these two help us," Yellow said. "You need to power down and go back to your time. The other Time Rangers will stay and help unless they are too emotionally compromised too." The other four shook their heads. "Good. Now Carly, go home."

Without saying another word, Carly opened another time portal and disappeared through it. Yellow turned to Ryan and Tessie. He unbound Ryan's hands which were now sore from being in that position for too long.

"I can go get Christen," Tessie said before Yellow could speak.

"And I can go get my sister," Ryan said.

Yellow nodded. "My team will go get your Yellow Ranger and Time Force will go get your Black Ranger. That will leave your Red Ranger."

"Let's do it," Ryan said. "IT'S MORPHIN' TIME!"


End file.
